I believe visuals are the least inhibited way we have to communicate. I believe visuals are the purist way to convey our messages to others. I believe visuals are the MOST powerful expressions of our voice.

I loved the look of her blog and if you check out just one her blog posts, read “visual diarrhea” – as opposed to “verbal diarrhea”, which I call ‘selling without taking a breath or asking questions' (just ask my former sales reps!).

So Dre and I hopped onto a Google Hangout and she reviewed Successful Blogging. She gave me great branding advice on how to amp up the visual elements on the blog. Dre even called me a bad-ass, which I discovered is one of her favorite expressions! Together, we decided on new colors, watermarks, visual templates and other goodies and a fun time was had by all.

After the Hangout with Dre, I was ready to get the blog redesigned. Enter Cami.

I met Cami through Adrienne Smith when she featured Cami on her blog, along with some other great solopreneurs. I immediately emailed Cami and asked her to do my redesign. She is a joy to work with and creates websites in Genesis (my theme of choice).

Take a look around SB's new blog design. Cami gave me a new logo. Different fonts and colors (keeping our iconic red but refreshing the shade). A new feature opt-in box, along with redesigned sidebar widgets. New social media covers (over at Twitter,Google+, andFacebook).

I really love my redesign and highly recommend both Dre's and Cami's work.

Redesigning The Business Side

When Jon offered his year-long mentorship program for newer bloggers this past fall, I wasn’t sure that it was right for me. I had taken his “Guest Blogging” course (which is wonderful and I highly recommend it) and I was in his “Serious Bloggers Only” forum, but I wasn't a beginning blogger.

I decided to join the group when I realized that was the only way to ask questions of Jon (and his right-hand woman, Marsha Stopa) on a weekly basis without paying tens of thousands of dollars for one-on-one coaching.

And he has delivered. My traffic has skyrocketed due to his advice on just what types of posts to use and I’m being featured as a ‘case study’ on the SBOforum this week. “Serious Bloggers Only” is worth every penny of the $29/month fee, not only for the relationships I have built there but for the monthly “SBO Mini-Courses”. Plus, if you join, you'll get to watch my case study webinar 🙂

I had read Yaro’s blog for 3+ years when he sent an email about joining his new mentoring group, EJ Insiders. I quickly signed up to the forum-style group and was very happy to discover other like-minded bloggers.

We ask Yaro whatever questions we have and he responds with insightful comments.

The great part about the evolution of the forum is that now everyone helps each other out. There are accountability partnerships, monthly coaching calls with Yaro and we are trying a new webinar-style call each month that I’m in charge of. (I was very surprised when, on opening up the forum website one day last year, I saw the word “Expert” below my name. Yaro had promoted me to “expert” level and I did a happy dance around my living room!)

Ramsay has over 10,000 subscribers and is successful at affiliate sales, consults with businesses and has coaching clients. When he opened his two month private coaching offer last year for only 5 students, I jumped at it. Unfortunately, it filled up before he got my application. But my luck changed when someone had to cancel and I was first on his wait list.

Ramsay's coaching is 1-1 and he answered all my many questions on blogging and business. It was worth the investment and I now have a great colleague that I can ask to promote my posts and still answers my occasional questions.

Wrapping It Up

It has been a great journey of change over the last 9 months. And I'm happy that the changes are now visually represented on the blog.

I am soooo proud of you, Sue! I applaud your bravery in investing in yourself and you biz and committing to your success. The true definition of being a successful blogger, you are.

I’m honored to have been able to be a part of your redesigning journey and can’t happy dance enough in seeing the amaze balls that you’ve got in SB. You’re an inspiration to all bloggers, lady! Grateful for the new friendship we’ve formed and can’t wait to see the levels of success you reach. Remember us little people when you make it to the top…I have a sneaking suspicion it’s straight up for you. 😉

If we admit that competition has stiffened in blogosphere so we should also accept now freemiums won’t pay as much as premiums can and to face the competition we have to pay for formal learning instead of doing randomly.

I am also big fan of Yaro and Jon and most of the blogging things I learnt by regularly following their tips and tutorials.

I am glad to know you were referred as case study in SBO and I know their standards is so high and getting such position does mean how skilled one is.

I know my designer, Cami, will be so glad to hear that. She gave me about 10 different variations before I agreed on this one. It took the longest of all of the tasks to decide on. So having you say that means it was worth the time and effort that she and I (along with Dre) spent.

Hi Sue,
Thanks for this post. I’ve often wondered if all the courses and groups out there are actually worth the money.

(So far the only blogging product I bought online was a dud, and I got a refund!)

It sounds like you’ve made a huge financial commitment over the last year, and it would be interesting to know if you feel the increase in traffic etc has paid for this commitment already, or if not, when you project that it will?

In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy your new look and your great tips.

I feel that I made an investment in my blogging education. It has been worth every penny. The trick, as you have already found out, is to pick the right people to associate yourself with (I had some misses also when I first started out).

Hi Sue Mam,
It was the first time on your blog and I am so glad that I am landed on this awesome post.
Yes, an impressive blog design can attract more visitors for your and make your blog successive.
Although a great post and awesome design.
Keep writing and would like to visit again to read more some interesting.
Have a great day 🙂
Naveen

I love love love the new look and I also appreciate you sharing your redesign journey with us too. As you know I’m going through a rebranding phase myself and have taken some of your suggestions so thank you for that by the way.

I’m SO glad that Cami stood out to you from the list of people I shared in an earlier post. She’s such a sweetheart and I love what she does. I’m so thrilled with the design of your blog and even happier that you’re thrilled with it too.

I admire everyone that you’ve mentioned here and you are so smart to be mentored by these amazing people. I always say if you want to get to a certain place then you need to learn from the people who are where you want to be. Jon, Yaro and Ramsay are all truly amazing people who are so successful. I have no doubt that their coaching programs are worth every single penny.

Love this post Sue Anne and will be sharing it as well. I think this is important because there are so many people who are “stuck” and think they can’t change things up. Well yes you can and you’re living proof.

Wow! I love your new site and the story you shared behind it. Giving credit where credit is due to such wonderful people on your journey. You made a great shift without losing your branding. Way to go girl!

I feel a sense of celebration in the air reading this. There is nothing better than moving forward as you have and will be doing. Great job and I wish you all the best!Donna Merrill recently posted…The Blogging Entrepreneur

Thank you for sharing these resources. I am sure they will be very helpful as I finally get serious about my blog instead of just letting it go to clients for the last 8 years. I have followed several people who teach about blogging and am letting go of some of them. You, however, are one of my faves. Thanks for all the ways you help us out here in blogging land.Linda Luke recently posted…Gratitude, Hearts, Rocks & Inspiration from a Friend

Hello Sue, Your title just pulled me in. How to Love your blog? I really enjoyed your story here and do know the importance of branding and investing in your education to help you get the results you are looking for.

I love the clean, fresh style of the redesign. It must have involved lots of time, efforts and consideration to redesign it into a more organized and intuitive look. Sometimes I heard about a redesign will impact the search engine optimization of an existing blog, thus affecting the amount of new visitors. I’m just curious, have you noticed any obvious rise or drop of visitors to your awesome blog? Keep on the good work!

Wow, nice to hear that. That means the redesign seems quite successful. Probably the new structure and design, as well as the faster loading time look pleasant in the search engine crawler’s eyes. Congratulations!

Hello Sue, This is my First time visit on your Blog. Thanks for your great Article. By reading your this article just learn a lot’s of points. And Your Blog is just looking awesome. but, have you noticed one thing? You Facebook Profile does not connecting with your Blog. When i wanted to send you a Friend request i can not. So, check the issue 🙂